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“Another Nigger fried. No big deal.”
-- April 16, 2011, Statement by New York City Police Officer Michael Daragjati, boasting of his false arrest of another African-American male.
Infamous Dealings!
Posted: Wed DEC 21, 2011 AT 4:13PM EST - Updated: Sat. Dec 24, 2011 2:19pm PST
"I feel so strongly, for the first time in my life, that I am truly ripe for positive reform and real achievement."
-- Cameron Douglas in a written letter to the judge asking for some compassion and looking for a break (reduction in original prison sentence). Cameron Douglas, who was already serving five years for drug dealing, has been slapped with additional time for drug possession while behind bars.
New York -- The 33-year-old son (pictured above, center-left) of Michael Douglas was sentenced to five years in prison last April on drug-dealing charges, after he was caught with half a pound of crystal meth. On Wednesday, Cameron was sentenced to an additional four-and-a-half years in prison and a $4,000 fine for drug possession while behind bars. The sentence was more than twice what prosecutors had asked for under sentencing guidelines, according to The New York Post. The judge, obviously annoyed at the situation, told Cameron that he had "blown the biggest opportunity of his life."
Apparently Cameron had been looking for a break and had written a letter to the judge asking for some compassion. In the letter, which was made public earlier this week, Cameron wrote that he was "saturated in my own shame and penitence" and begged for "the opportunity to build myself and gain the tools I need to shape my future."
"I feel so strongly, for the first time in my life, that I am truly ripe for positive reform and real achievement," Cameron said in the Manhattan federal court filing. Cameron was previously arrested in 1999 and 2007 for drug possession. At the time of his 2009 arrest, his father Michael wrote a letter pleading his son's case to the judge. "I love my son, but I'm not blind to his actions," Douglas said in the letter. "I don't want to see him break."
In addition to the jail time, Cameron also received a two-year ban on family visits and will need to undergo treatment for drug addiction while in prison.
Method to:
Missouri Madness!
Missouri Madness!
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 - Updated: Fri. Dec 23, 2011 1:33pm PST
pictured above, center, Methamphetamine arrestHILLSBORO, Mo. – For more than a dozen years, the wooded hills and valleys of Jefferson County have hidden a dark side of life here: a drug problem so pervasive that some people call this rural area "Metherson County." Methamphetamine has a tight grip on this county south of St. Louis, says Cpl. Timothy Whitney of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, who manages a county drug task force. Jefferson County leads the state in meth lab seizures — a sign, he says, of aggressive enforcement as well as the scope of its problem. Through Nov. 28, there were 6,915 seizures of meth labs, equipment and dump sites nationwide: Missouri led all states with 1,744. So far this year, there have been 234 seizures in Jefferson County.
Top states for seizures of methamphetamine labs¸ equipment and dumpsites, Jan. 1-Nov. 28:
1. Missouri 1,744
2. Kentucky 770
3. Indiana 661
4. Oklahoma 659
5. Illinois 481`
6. Michigan 293
7. North Carolina 277
8. Iowa 260
9. Mississippi 259
10. Arkansas 232
Source: El Paso Intelligence Center, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and staffed by 15 federal agencies to track transnational crime
Through the end of November, there were 75 drug-related misdemeanor and 340 felony arrests, many prompted by anonymous tips. "We have no bigger problem than most of the counties in Missouri," Whitney says, but its team approach leads to more busts. Meth arrived in Jefferson County around 1998, Whitney says. Once people got hooked, they started making, or cooking, it. It's harder to find meth labs here because there are no big-scale manufacturers, just hundreds of individual "mom and pop" cooks, he says. There is, however, a broad network of people who buy medications containing pseudo-ephedrine and sell it to the cooks, a practice called smurfing, Whitney says. In the past three years or so, young heroin users have begun smurfing to make money so they can buy heroin. A box of Sudafed that costs $8 or $9, he says, can be sold to meth cooks for $100, which is enough for 10 small heroin doses. Whitney expects almost 30 heroin overdose deaths this year in this county of 219,000.
pictured above, center, Methamphetamine and test kitMeth continues to plague communities across the nation despite getting scant attention, says one University professor. "You'd think there's no meth problem, he says, but in many economically depressed rural areas it's still used "to cope with … difficulty and poverty." A family medicine professor says the nation "is not yet past the chapter on methamphetamine." As the problem persists, he says, budget woes are shrinking resources to address the problem. "There's just an air of desperation that's out there," he says.
Whitney's task force has nine investigators, down from 12 in 2005, and it will lose two more Jan. 1 when a federal grant that subsidizes task force salaries expires. "The problem is going up, but the manpower is going down," Whitney says. Jefferson County was the first in Missouri to end over-the-counter sales of cold and allergy remedies containing pseudo-ephedrine, a key meth ingredient, but neighboring St. Louis County has no restrictions. Under state law, people can buy up to 9 grams of pseudo-ephedrine every 30 days. Until there's a statewide requirement that those medicines can be sold only with a prescription, Whitney says, the battle against meth labs won't be won. Law enforcement officials began tracking another trend in 2007 that made busting meth cooks even more difficult: a "one pot" method. The drug is mixed in a 2-liter soda bottle, often in moving cars. When the process is complete, the leftover toxic materials are tossed out the car window.
Oregon and Mississippi have reported dramatic decreases in meth lab seizures since laws requiring prescriptions for all pseudo-ephedrine sales were enacted. The Missouri House passed a similar bill this year; it died in the state Senate.
Meth use is down nationwide, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released in September by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The number of people who said they had used meth in the past month fell from 731,000 in 2006 to 353,000 in 2010.
The social consequences of Jefferson County's meth problem are dire, says Circuit Court Judge Darrell Missey, who presides over family court. "I look at my job like I'm in the emergency room," he says. At a time of shrinking public resources, Missey wishes there were money for an in-patient treatment center for girls to match the existing one for boys and a "recovery school" to transition students coming out of treatment. The community is committed, he says, but "the question is always about the money." Missey says the community won't stop fighting drugs, with or without government funds. "We're just going to have to be creative," he says.
American Air 'Lines'!
Posted: Thurs. December 8, 2011 - Updated: Fri Dec 23, 2011 02:14pm PST
When federal investigators announced they had broken up a cocaine-trafficking ring, the crime boss was not a member of a Mexican cartel or the Mafia. The ringleader was Victor Bourne (pictured left) a low-wage baggage handler for American Airlines at Kennedy International Airport. And his associates in the enterprise were other airline employees: baggage handlers and crew chiefs who delivered contraband while they delivered luggage to the baggage-claim area. Their cunning provided luxury watches, cars, tuition for their children and expensive vacations. Now they face prison.For passengers, dealing with luggage issues has long been an annoyance of air travel. Bags can get lost or damaged, heightened security has made carry-ons less convenient and most airlines now charge travelers to check luggage. But all of that may pale to what happens outside the view of the flying public.
Testimony at Mr. Bourne’s trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn during September and October revealed a culture of corruption among some baggage handlers at Kennedy. They stowed drugs in secret panels inside planes; stole laptops, lobsters and fine clothing flown as freight; and rifled through passengers’ belongings for perfume, liquor and electronics. “‘Everybody did it.’ That’s a line that a lot of the witnesses said,” recalled Rebecca Grefski, a juror at Mr. Bourne’s trial, part of a case in which 12 American Airlines employees either pleaded guilty or were convicted. “Everybody was doing it.”
In September, five former Delta Air Lines employees were indicted in Michigan for smuggling marijuana from Jamaica to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. In a related case, five other Delta workers were indicted in Michigan in June.
In November 2010, four part-time baggage handlers for American Airlines were arrested on charges of stealing valuables from luggage at Philadelphia International Airport. Detectives working with airline security officials set up surveillance cameras and said they caught the workers taking electronics, cameras and jewelry from passengers’ bags. Three of them pleaded guilty, and the fourth is awaiting trial. In 2009, the last year for which there is complete data, the Transportation Security Administration received about 6,750 reports of property missing from checked baggage. Passengers reported the total value of their losses as nearly $5.3 million. Clothing was reported most often as missing. Digital cameras also disappeared with some frequency. From 2002 to 2010, American Airlines generated more such reports than any other airline.
In a statement, American noted its cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help in prosecuting the case at Kennedy. “The overwhelming majority of American Airlines employees at our J.F.K. terminal and throughout our system are honest, law-abiding individuals who work hard every day to take care of our customers,” the airline said. Yet the testimony in Mr. Bourne’s trial suggested that a serious problem seemed to exist at American Airlines. “What percent of American Airlines employees would you say engaged in this conduct?” a federal prosecutor, Patricia E. Notopoulos, asked Matthew James, a defendant in the case who pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution. “About 80 percent,” Mr. James answered. American Airlines, in its statement, said that “any claim of 80 percent employee involvement in such illegal activities is absurd.” Much of the action at Kennedy was centered on American Airlines flights from some warm-weather location, and the primary drug-ferrying route was Flight 1384, a daily flight from Barbados, which for much of the year arrives after dark.
Mr. Bourne, a native of Barbados who prosecutors say had criminal connections there, bought cocaine in bulk and arranged for baggage handlers in Barbados to hide it on planes bound for New York, several American Airlines employees testified. Mr. Bourne, who is in custody, was found guilty of importing and distributing narcotics, as well as of conspiring to do so. He was also convicted of offenses involving financial transactions. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. His lawyer recently filed a motion to dismiss the counts on which Mr. Bourne was convicted and requested a new trial. “The witnesses on whose testimony the counts were founded could not be trusted,” his attorney said.
On Boeing 757s, the Barbadian handlers hid the bricks of cocaine among loose bags and freight. On larger 767s, they stowed the drugs in giant containers that were filled with luggage at the terminal and then loaded onto the planes. On Airbus A300s, they found hidden spaces behind the wall and ceiling panels in the cargo hold. Only the airline workers at Kennedy who were a part of the scheme knew where to look. “I would take the drugs out of the ceiling, put it in the bag, mix it up with other bags coming down the plane and send it down the belt,” said Edwin Asencio, a former baggage handler for American Airlines. If the hiding spots were secret, the practice was not. “I was bragging around the job that I was doing it, and I was trying to get my other friends involved so they could make extra money,” Mr. Asencio said.
pictured above, center, Seven kilograms of cocaine found on an American Airlines jet.Trafficking was heaviest during the winter months, when customs agents assigned to the tarmac were less likely to leave their cars, and when baggage workers could hide some of the bricks of cocaine inside their coats. When the customs agents were looming, the baggage handlers sometimes left the cocaine on the plane and tracked it as it hopped around the country. When it returned to Kennedy from a domestic trip, the workers — taking care that customs agents were nowhere in sight — removed the drugs.
Mr. Bourne sold the cocaine he smuggled for about $18,000 a kilogram and took home the biggest share of the profits, prosecutors said. They calculated that he made several million dollars, which was passed through businesses he ran in Brooklyn and in Barbados. Handlers like Mr. Asencio worked in crews of three or four, and Mr. Bourne paid each of them from $3,000 to $5,000 each time they smuggled, they said. Mr. Bourne also paid crew chiefs, the employees who assigned the flights, about $500 each time they assigned his crews to Flight 1384. Steven Zografos, a crew chief who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine, described the first time he was approached by a baggage handler. “He tell me his aunt was coming off the flight,” Mr. Zografos said in court, stumbling over his English. “I looked in the schedule, and I took away the flight they were supposed to have, him and his crew, and I assigned him the flight that he wanted to work.”
“At first, I thought it was a pretty expensive aunt,” he added, “but then I said, ‘Obviously something else is going on here.’ ” Before long, he kept a bottle of correction fluid next to his crew schedule. Whenever someone from Mr. Bourne’s crew approached him, he would just Wite-Out the flight that he was supposed to have, and take Flight 1384 from a crew that had it, and make the switch. Seven American Airlines employees testified against Mr. Bourne, all but one of them defendants who pleaded guilty and testified for the government. Ms. Notopoulos, who prosecuted the case with Toni M. Mele, Soumya Dayananda, Alexander A. Solomon and Tanya Y. Hill, summed up their testimony and the government’s case by calling American Airlines Terminal 8 “a cesspool of corruption.”
Even the defense lawyer for Bourne said that he believed part of the witnesses’ testimony. “It became very obvious that everyone in American Airlines’ baggage services is dirty,” the attorney said. “If they don’t steal commercial cargo on a regular basis, they are going to rifle suitcases. It is astounding the kind of valuable items they were able to steal.” The cooperating witnesses face minimum sentences of 10 years in prison, unless the prosecution recommends leniency.
“I think everyone sitting in the courtroom and sitting in the jury box was surprised about how long it went on and that it was known to everybody,” Ms. Grefski, the juror, said of the criminal activity. “You always hear about people having things stolen on airlines,” she added. “It was a little startling that they talked about stealing so naturally.”
Officials with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that led the investigation, said the inquiry into corruption among airline employees was continuing.
High Perceptions!
Posted: November 8, 2011 - Updated: Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:53pm
United States -- Recent high profile narcotics busts at the universities of Georgetown, Columbia, and Cornell, demonstrate that students at elite private schools aren't just smoking a little pot. They're using (and dealing) hard drugs like heroin—and they're getting arrested for it. Tom Workman, the fellow for the Education Department's Higher Education Center for Alcohol Drug and Prevention Program told reports that elite private schools are "more likely to enroll students whose race [is white] and [whose] favorable socioeconomic status make them more likely to engage in risky behavior such as alcohol and drug abuse; the competitive nature of such institutions also creates a high-pressure environment in which students are more prone to substance abuse." Workman notes that because pop culture promotes the stereotype that hard drugs are used by either rock stars or low income people of color, the narcotics problems at elite schools could be more pervasive than anybody realizes.
A study published November 8, 2011 in the Archives of General Psychiatry says that black and Asian teens are less likely to use drugs and alcohol than white people their age. In a survey of more than 72,000 young people conducted by Dan Blazer, a psychiatry professor at Duke Medical Center, 39 percent of white teens and 37 percent of Latinos reported having abused substances in the past year, compared to 32 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Asians. When it came to drugs alone, 20 percent of whites, 19 percent of blacks, and 12 percent of Asians reported using.
Blazer called the relatively low rate of substance abuse among black juveniles "surprising": "The public perception is that that’s not the case," he said. Also surprised should be American police, who continue to arrest black kids for drug use at far greater rates than whites. Consider this chart from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice:
In the 1990s, the juvenile black drug arrest rate was nearly three times that of whites, and in 2008 it remained almost double. The fact is that cops bust blacks kids markedly more for a crime they commit slightly less often. This is especially unfair because petty drug offenses are how thousands of black kids per year end up in the U.S. justice system. Their criminal records then haunt many of them for the rest of their lives, ruining their employment and educational opportunities and all but forcing them to turn to more crime to stay afloat.
It also doesn't help that officials at these elite (White) schools don't exactly want the word to get out that there are major drug problems on campus. After all, reputation is everything.
NFL:
National Felons League!
National Felons League!
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 12:00pm PST - Updated: Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:38pm PST
CHICAGO, IL (WCJB) — People who knew him here have become uncomfortably familiar with the details in the criminal complaint: $88,000 and marijuana found inside a car; the plan to buy up to $700,000 worth of drugs each week; Sam Hurd, the Chicago Bears receiver, their hero, accused of aspiring to become not just a drug dealer, but a kingpin, Tony Montana of “Scarface” and football’s Joe Montana all at once.
“People are dismayed,” said Al Porter, a retired teacher for whom Hurd (pictured left) was a student assistant, a man who later helped Hurd run his summer football camps here. “We don’t want to believe it. There’s got to be something we haven’t heard yet.” Porter sighed as he sipped sweet tea at a coffee shop. “Look, people can live a double life,” he continued. “Behind closed doors, you never know. It’s just. ...” His voice trailed off, into a whisper. “What they’re accusing him of, it’s not small time. It’s a drug ring.”The Hurd family was not immune to the dangers that surrounded them. One of Hurd’s uncles, Jimmy Corbin, was arrested several times, including on felony charges for robbery and cocaine possession, according to public records. On Dec. 27, 2004, Jimmy Corbin was found dead on his front porch “with a gunshot wound to the top of his head,” according to the police report. The media quoted Hurd the next day, saying, “The street got the best of him.” Corbin was 48. His murder, laid out on a one-page incident report, remains unsolved.
In 2008, Hurd also told media sources that he owned several guns, including an M-16 assault rifle. That, too, gave locals pause. The Hurd they thought they knew told them he gave his life to Christ a few years ago. When he returned home, he carried a Bible, sang gospel, attended church on Sundays and decorated his sculptured arms with verses. When Daniel Thatcher asked how he was doing, Hurd always said, “I’m blessed.”
After he signed with the Cowboys, Hurd married his college sweetheart, Stacee Green. Jake Thatcher described the wedding — at a country club, opulent flower arrangements on the tables — as the nicest he ever attended. The couple performed a choreographed dance. Later, when Thatcher visited Hurd in Dallas, they walked around a Walmart. “You play for the Dallas Cowboys, and nobody knows who you are,” Thatcher said he told his friend. To which he said Hurd responded, “Not yet.”
He became widely known this month, but not in the way anyone expected. In the criminal complaint, which quotes an undercover agent and a confidential informant, Hurd is described as an aspiring drug lord who moved four kilograms of cocaine a week in the Chicago area but wanted more. Hurd faces up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine. The United States attorney’s office in Dallas has 30 days to present its case to a grand jury for indictment.
Mon. Dec 19, 2011 2:29pm
CHICAGO, IL (WCJB) — Chicago Bears receiver Sam Hurd was in federal custody on Thursday, charged with trying to set up a drug-dealing network. He was arrested with a kilogram of cocaine in a sting, the authorities said. Hurd was arrested Wednesday night after meeting with an undercover agent at a Chicago restaurant, according to a criminal complaint that says he was first identified as a potential drug dealer over the summer as the N.F.L. lockout neared an end. Hurd told the agent that he was interested in buying 5 to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana each week to distribute in the Chicago area, the complaint said. He said that he and a co-conspirator distributed about four kilos of cocaine every week, but that their supplier could not keep up with his demands, the complaint alleges.
Judge Young Kim said Hurd (pictured left) would need to return to Texas to face the charges. During a hearing Thursday in Chicago federal court, Kim ordered Hurd held pending bond. The hearing will be continued Friday after prosecutors and defense lawyers discuss possible bond. Hurd was handcuffed as marshals led him to the hearing. A defense lawyer, said Thursday that he spoke with prosecutors and expected Hurd to be released Friday. The attorney said Hurd was ready to “fight the case.”According to the complaint, Hurd agreed to pay $25,000 for each kilogram of cocaine and $450 a pound for the marijuana. The United States attorney in Texas said Hurd faced up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine if convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams, or half a kilogram, of cocaine.
Hurd’s agent did not return messages. Coach Lovie Smith said the arrest was a disappointment and a “total surprise,” adding that Hurd was still a member of the Bears for now. Smith said there was no reason to believe Hurd had problems when the Bears signed him before the season. Hurd, 26, played for five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and is in his first season with the Bears. He has played in 77 games over all, starting six and scoring two touchdowns, while contributing mostly on special teams. He has played in 12 games this year, with eight catches for 109 yards. Teammates said Thursday that they were stunned. “It’s a situation that you don’t, I don’t, want anybody to be in, especially a close friend,” said fellow receiver Roy Williams, who also played with Hurd in Dallas.
The Bears agreed to a three-year deal with Hurd reportedly worth up to $5.15 million, including a $1.35 million signing bonus and base pay this season of $685,000.
Intoxicated Indictments!
Posted: Tues. December 20, 2011 9:05 PM PST - Updated: Wed Dec 21, 2011 04:00pm PST
OAKLAND, CA (WCJB) — A former Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy is due to appear before a federal judge in Oakland Feb. 7 for the setting of the next dates in his prosecution on charges of so-called “dirty DUI” arrests. Stephen Tanabe (pictured above, center) 48, of Alamo, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on four charges accusing him of aiding former private investigator Christopher Butler in arranging the drunken driving arrests of three husbands in divorce cases. He pleaded not guilty to the charges before U.S. Magistrate Laurel Beeler on Monday. Beeler granted him bail of $400,000 and ordered him to return to the court of U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong Feb. 7 for the setting of future dates, including a possible trial date.
The four charges in the Dec. 15 indictment are one count of conspiring to extort under color of official right, or under his position as an officer, and three counts of extortion under color of official right. The indictment alleges that Butler gave Tanabe cocaine and a firearm in exchange for his help in making the arrests of three husbands or ex-husbands of women who were clients of Butler and were in the midst of divorce or child custody disputes. Butler allegedly arranged for an undercover employee to make plans to meet each victim at a bar. Butler would then “direct the employee to entice the target to drink alcohol until he was intoxicated, and have a police officer waiting outside the bar to stop and arrest the target for drinking under the influence,” the indictment alleges. Tanabe allegedly personally made two of the arrests on Jan. 9 and 14 of this year.In a third case in Nov. 2, 2010, he allegedly arranged for another deputy sheriff to wait outside the bar and make the arrest while Tanabe remained inside the bar “monitoring the alcohol intake of the target,” according to the indictment. Tanabe’s defense attorney was not available for comment Tuesday. The prosecution grew out of a Contra Costa County law enforcement scandal that began with an investigation of stolen drug evidence and expanded to a probe of alleged drug sales, theft, bribery, possession of illegal weapons and prostitution.
Butler, former Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET) commander Norman Wielsch and former San Ramon police officer Louis Lombardi have previously been charged in federal court. They and Tanabe also face state court charges filed by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and are scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in that case on March 5. Butler and Wielsch were federally indicted in August on charges of selling methamphetamine and marijuana, stealing from a federally funded program and extorting payments from employees running an illegal massage parlor that Butler and Wielsch allegedly established. They are due to appear before Armstrong in Oakland on Jan. 24.
Lombardi, who was assigned to work with CNET between 2005 and 2009, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in May and revised in October with possessing a stolen gun, selling marijuana and methamphetamine and depriving unnamed victims of their civil rights. He previously pleaded not guilty but is scheduled to enter a change of plea before Armstrong on Jan. 26.
Butler is identified only by his initials in Tanabe’s indictment, but was identified by name in an affidavit filed in the state court case by Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Jason Vorhauer in March. That affidavit alleged that two deputies told investigators they aided Butler and Tanabe in the Jan. 14 and November 2010 “dirty DUI” arrests. The alleged victim in the Jan. 14 arrest was identified as Mitchell Katz, owner of the Mitchell Katz Winery in Pleasanton, when Katz filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Dec. 1 against Contra Costa County; his estranged wife, Alicia Spenger; Tanabe; Butler and others.
Katz, a Livermore resident, contends in the lawsuit that he was lured to a Danville bar on Jan. 14 by Carl Marino, a Butler employee who was posing as the producer of a television reality show. The lawsuit alleges that Katz was surrounded at the bar by four other women who claimed they were familiar with his winery but were also allegedly employed by Butler. Katz was pulled over and arrested by Tanabe when he left the bar. Katz says in the lawsuit that he was later told by Marino in an e-mail in March that the operation was a “set up” and that Marino had told the U.S. Department of Justice about the alleged scheme. Also in March, county prosecutors declined to file any DUI charges against Katz, telling Katz’s defense lawyer in a letter that the arrest was illegal because Katz “”appeared to be the victim of an intentional conspiracy to entrap targeted victims of Tanabe’s accomplice, Christopher Butler.” The lawsuit is pending in federal court in Oakland.
The 'Norm'!
Posted: Thurs. December 15, 2011 12:14 PM PST - Updated: Wed Dec 21, 2011 04:37pm PST
WALNUT CREEK, CA (WCJB) – A disgraced former police commander was back in state court Thursday morning, along with several other co-defendants, facing state charges from the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office, despite federal officials taking over the case six months ago. Norman Wielsch (pictured below, left) of the now-defunct Contra Costa County Narcotics Task Force, appeared before Judge William M. Kolin in a Walnut Creek courtroom at 8:30 Thursday morning. Christopher Butler, a private investigator, also appeared before the judge along with former Danville cop Steven Tanabe and former San Ramon officer Louis Lombardi. After a brief hearing, the judge ordered the men to return to a Martinez courtroom on February 8, 2012 for a readiness conference. The judge said a preliminary hearing will likely take place in the first week of March.
Prosecutor Jun Fernandez told media sources that the case was proceeding in state court, in part, because it hasn’t been resolved in federal court and that the feds, as a matter of policy, are not sharing the proceedings of their case with the county. “We have our own independent case that needs to go forward,” Fernandez said. Wielsch’s attorney questioned the move. “Usually the state dismisses the charges because it costs a lot of money to handle a case that’s already being prosecuted at the federal level,” said the attorney. “That’s not being done here for whatever reasons. Those reasons are only known to the District Attorney of Contra Costa County.”“I’ve been told that (the Contra Costa County DA’s office) may want us to plead in the state court so they get their pound of flesh,” continued the attorney. “But whatever time my client gets in federal court will be more than sufficient to assuage any concern the state prosecutor may have. So why would they need us to plead to something? If push comes to shove, we may tell them to take us to trial.”
Tanabe was charged in state court for drug and bribery crimes, but was the only one of the four who has not been charged in federal court.
While Wielsch and Butler were initially brought up on 38 state charges – from reselling confiscated drugs to bribery – Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark Petersen later announced on June 3rd he was handing their cases and those of the two other cops over to the feds, citing budget constraints and conflict of interest concerns. On August 15th, a federal grand jury indicted Wielsch and Butler on narcotics charges, civil rights violations, extortion and added allegations that the two ran a brothel in Pleasant Hill. Lombardi was arraigned in federal court on October 25th for charges regarding stolen cash, jewelry and drugs.
Back in June, Petersen announced, “It is my belief that the people of this county are best served if we enlist the United States Attorney’s Office and federal Bureau of Investigations” as he handed the case over to the feds. At the time, the district attorney made it clear he was not dropping any charges – leaving open the possibility of continuing a parallel prosecution in state court.
All of the defendants remain free on bail.
Honolulu Police
Sex, Drugs & Patrol!
Sex, Drugs & Patrol!
POSTED: 8:35 pm HST November 16, 2011
UPDATED: 04:32 pm PST November 27, 2011
Monday night, the FBI arrested Honolulu Police Department Major Carlton Nishimura (pictured left) after a federal raid found the drug crystal methamphetamine at his home on the Waianae Coast. "I am very concerned about the seriousness of this recent allegation," said Police Chief Louis Kealoha in remarks to reporters Wednesday. The FBI says it found about 231.5 grams, or more than a half pound, of the drug (Meth) in Nishimura’s Waianae home Monday night. The Federal agents returned to Nishimura's home Tuesday night with metal detectors as well as a dog and appeared to search his garage and elsewhere in his house.Honolulu City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard, who chairs the council’s safety committee, said, “It is unfortunate that the actions of these very few cast a shadow over the really great work being done by officers at HPD every day.” “No one is above the law and people need to be accountable for their actions,” Gabbard said. HPD put Nishimura on unpaid leave Tuesday, after the FBI arrested him for intent to distribute crystal meth.
In February, a federal grand jury indicted Nishimura for extortion in another case, with prosecutors claiming he conspired to accept bribes from illegal gambling operations in exchange for steering police away from raiding them. When Nishimura, a 30-year HPD veteran, was indicted earlier this year, he had been assigned to the legislative liaison office of the police department, which lobbies state lawmakers and members of the city council on HPD’s behalf. Sources said until Tuesday, he had been working in the Community Affairs division, on leave with pay.
Winn Sheriff!
August 5, 2011
In a photo take in 2008, Winn Parish Sheriff A.D. "Bodie" Little stands in front of the prison roster at the prison in Winnfield, La. Little and four other people on were arrested Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011, on federal charges tied to the distribution of methamphetamine in northwestern Louisiana.
SHREVEPORT, La. (WCJB) — A federal magistrate has approved house arrest for Winn Parish Sheriff A.D. "Bodie" Little, who is accused of helping his girlfriend cover up her alleged methamphetamine deals. Magistrate Mark Hornsby set Little's bond at $100,000 and said he must wear an ankle monitoring bracelet, submit to alcohol and drug testing, take a leave of absence from the sheriff's office and stay out of its administration. "You are out of the business of being sheriff, effective immediately," he told Little after hearing more than 90 minutes of testimony by a state trooper who investigated the sheriff.Little was among 11 people indicted Tuesday on charges of dealing methamphetamine in the Winn Parish and Shreveport areas. He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney says the arrest is political. Hornsby says Little's home must be thoroughly searched and monitoring equipment installed before Little can leave the Caddo Parish jail. That probably will be sometime next week, he said.
Master Trooper O.H. "Hank" Haynes IV testified that a state-federal task force began investigating Little after he asked Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator last year to get a drug task force to investigate dealers in Winn Parish. "I think it's clear he wanted everyone arrested except his girlfriend," Haynes testified.
Federal Wiretaps!
POSTED: April 5, 2011 - UPDATED: August 28, 2011 - REVISED: December 28, 2011 - 10:25 AM PST
When federal agents eavesdropped on the telephone conversations of several drug trafficking suspects, they heard talk of marijuana sales, money transfers and cross-country drug shipments. In August, investigators from the FBI and other federal agencies arrested people accused of being members of the alleged Compton-based drug ring that was the focus of the wiretapping. Authorities say Dion Grim, the man accused of being the group's leader, is a Front Hood Crips associate who operated a walk-up drug house in Compton and illegally shipped Xanax and other prescription medications from Los Angeles to Louisiana.Grim, in his mid-30s, is accused of controlling sales, mostly of marijuana, at a notorious walk-up drug house at 927 W. Stockwell St. in Compton. Grim is also an employee at a trash collection and recycling company. His organization also allegedly had operatives in Louisiana who sold prescription pills there and funneled funds back to Grim. During one raid of the drug house, owned by Grim, so much marijuana was flushed that almost 150 grams of pot stayed clogged in the toilet bowl, according to law enforcement records. In one incident, an associate of Grim's was pulled over on the 10 Freeway with a duffel bag from Waste Management, the sanitation company where Grim works. Law enforcement records say the black bag contained 4,200 Xanax pills and 13 single-pint bottles of codeine with promethazine, also known as "sizzurp" or "purple drank."
While eavesdropping on the wiretaps, the Feds also detected something far more surprising: the voice of a Los Angeles County sheriff's captain. In April, 2011, Captain Bernice Abram, who was, at the time, the commanding officer in charge of the department’s Carson station, was put on leave after federal authorities notified LASD higher ups, that Abrams voice may have been heard on an FBI narcotics wiretap.
Los Angeles Law enforcement sources have confirmed that Bernice Abram (pictured left) who is in charge of the sheriff's Carson station, was put on leave after federal authorities notified sheriff's officials that their captain may have been heard on the narcotics wiretap. In an interview with media sources, Sheriff Lee Baca would say only that the decision to place Abram on leave was spurred by "concerns presented from outside the department … and inside.""I know it's sensitive enough for her not to be working while we look into it," the sheriff said. Abram has been on leave since April, along with her niece, a sheriff's custody assistant named Chantell White. Abram said in a brief interview that she didn't know why she was on leave. She also said she'd never heard of Grim. Her niece referred all questions to Sheriff's Department headquarters. Investigators from both the FBI and the Sheriff's Department spent several hours inside Abram's Carson station Aug. 9. An FBI spokeswoman declined to say whether the agency is investigating Abram or to provide additional details. The captain is on leave with pay pending the outcome of the internal probe.
Since 2009, Abram has been in charge of policing the city of Carson and the unincorporated areas of Torrance and East Rancho Dominguez. She started at the Sheriff's Department in 1987 and has held various posts there, including with the Special Victims Bureau and at the Compton and Century stations. According to a department release, she was named woman of the year by the Anti-Defamation League for "combating hate." She lists a local rabbi as her spiritual advisor, according to the bio.
Movie Intermission!
Violent Cop (1989)
Description: Afraid of his own frenzy, thirty-nine-year-old Detective Azuma forgets ahead. He hates organizations and they hate him. A group of delinquent boys surround homeless bums and beat them with sticks and lengths of gas pipe. Azuma happens to see. He tails the punks’ leader, storms into his house and beats him as a means to force the boy to turn himself in. One day the corpse of a murdered drug dealer is discovered. Azuma’s investigation takes him to a young businessman named Nindo and Iwaki, another police detective. Iwaki knows he will die of cancer before long and wanted to leave money for his family, so peddled drugs seized by the police. Someone soon murders Iwaki to shut his mouth. When the police try to cover up the death of Azuma’s co-worker, he becomes enraged at Nindo, the boss off the narcotics syndicate. Azuma cannot help but fight against corruption making use of his own frenzy.
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